


Panic Around the Christmas Tree

by patchworkct



Series: One Love, Two Idiots [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Secret Relationship, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:36:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchworkct/pseuds/patchworkct
Summary: Makoto planned to spend a quiet, romantic Christmas with Haru, but his plans are quickly thrown off by a surprise visit from Haru's parents who have no idea about their relationship.
Relationships: Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Series: One Love, Two Idiots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2072616
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	Panic Around the Christmas Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Just a fun little holiday oneshot :)  
> This could be read as a sequel of [ Know Me Well ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224647) or as a stand alone. Enjoy!

Makoto and Haru had a tradition of opening one Christmas present early on Christmas Eve. It started when they were only toddlers when Haru and his family would come to Makoto’s house in the evening and their parents would let them open one of their toys early so they could play together while the adults busied with other things.

As they grew older, it became like their own little private Christmas celebration. Haru always gave him handmade, thoughtful gifts that he was too embarrassed for Makoto to open in front of anyone else, like one year in high school he knitted him a hat and a matching scarf. Haru was weird about showing how much he cared back then.

Now they were spending a quiet Christmas in Tokyo on their own, a couple now, and they still wanted to keep that tradition alive. Makoto had just finished putting the star on top of their little tree when he plopped down on the couch where Haru was packing up the last of the bubble wrap that they had stored their ornaments in.

“When do I get my present?” Makoto asked, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek.

“So impatient,” Haru muttered with a smirk. “I have some more presents in our room. Wait here.”

“Okay,” Makoto said as he got up from the couch and headed toward the bedroom.

While he waited, he admired their small Christmas tree with the twinkling lights and ornaments from all the places they had been together so far for Haru’s professional swimming career: Hong Kong, Taipei, Rio, New York City. The past year was a whirlwind, but with Haru at his side, he was the happiest he had been in a long time.

Makoto snapped back to the present when he heard the crinkling of wrapping paper behind him and—oddly—the clacking of high heels on the wood floor. He turned in his seat and his eyes immediately widened, and his face and neck burned bright red.

“Okay, you have a few presents to choose from,” Haru said nonchalantly as if he weren’t standing there looking like a Greek god in heels.

He was wearing a black silk robe over a black leather harness that accentuated his muscular chest and abs, garters and fishnet stockings that made his legs look even more sensually long than usual—especially with those black velvet pumps on his feet— and a black lace thong that left nothing to the imagination. If given the choice between peace on earth and Haru in lingerie, he would gladly throw the world into chaos to get some of that ass.

Makoto got up from his seat in a daze.

“Haru…Oh my god…What?... Wow,” he stuttered.

“Come on, choose your present,” he said with a smirk, holding out two boxes wrapped in shiny Christmas paper.

Makoto floated to his boyfriend, took both the presents from him, and tossed them aside.

“I want you,” he said breathlessly.

Haru smiled, running his hands up his chest and then tangling his fingers through his sandy-brown hair. Makoto swallowed loudly. All the blood was rushing from his head to his groin at breakneck speed.

“Whatever you want, baby,” he murmured deeply in his ear.

Makoto snapped out of his sex-induced haze and crushed his lips into Haru’s, nudging the stocking-clad legs apart with his knee so Haru could grind his lace erection on his thigh. He kissed him deeply until Haru was moaning into his mouth like if he didn’t get dick right now, he was going to implode. Makoto broke the kiss, both panting as if they had sprinted a mile, and scooped Haru up bridal style into his arms. Haru kicked his shoes off as they disappeared into the bedroom giggling.

“The stockings stay on,” Makoto said as he slid the door closed behind him.

***

Makoto didn’t get up until noon the next day, and for once he had woken up before Haru. His black-haired beauty slept on his side, his smooth, naked back tucked perfectly against Makoto’s chest so that they fit together like puzzle pieces. He took note of the finger-sized bruises on his arms and hips and the dark purple hickey he had left on the juncture of his lover’s jaw and neck. Maybe he went a little overboard last night, but Haru seemed to enjoy himself. He smiled warmly at him, tracing the knobs of his spine with soft fingers until Haru sighed and yawned.

“Good morning, love,” He whispered, brushing a stray black hair away from his face to kiss his temple.

Haru groaned groggily as he rolled over to his other side so that they faced each other. He buried his face in Makoto’s broad chest.

“Mmn…do we have any Tylenol? I’m sore as fuck,” Haru said against his pectoral.

“I’m sure we have some somewhere. Was I too rough last night?” Makoto said anxiously.

Haru nuzzled his neck and smiled. Makoto’s heart melted a little more. He was too precious.

“No,” he smirked as if to say, _you’re going to have to try harder than that to break me._

Makoto chuckled.

“So resilient,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

Haru smiled wickedly up at him as he swiped his tongue across his nipple. Makoto shivered.

“I really, _really_ liked it,” he said.

“I’m glad,” Makoto smiled, leaning down to capture his lips on his.

Soon their kisses were getting hot and heavy, and Haru slung his leg—still wearing the fishnets—over Makoto’s hip so that their bodies completely aligned. Makoto thought they may go for another round when someone knocked on their apartment door.

“Who is that?” Makoto asked, pushing himself to a seat on the bed.

Haru grabbed his arm and tugged him back down.

“Just ignore it. They’ll go away,” Haru said against his lips.

Makoto sighed and melted into his lover again, hiking his thigh higher up on his hip and groping his ass. Haru was right. Whoever it was could come back later.

But the knocking came back louder, and a woman’s voice called, “Haruka? Are you in there?”

Haru inhaled sharply and broke the kiss.

“Fucking shit,” Haru cursed. “It’s my mom.”

“Oh god!” Makoto gasped as they both shot up in bed, still very much a tangled mess of limbs.

“Why do my parents always show up unannounced at the eleventh hour?” he groaned, rubbing a hand across his forehead.

“I don’t know, but sounds like someone I know,” Makoto said with his eyebrows raised.

He could have felt Haru’s eyeroll from a million miles away.

“Shut up! Now, go distract her!” Haru hissed, pushing Makoto out of bed.

He stumbled onto the floor completely naked and still hard as a rock.

“What?! Why don’t you go? You’re her son,” he complained, his face flushing bright red at the thought of answering the door in this state.

“Because I have to figure out how to cover all _this_ up,” he said, gesturing to the several dark purple hickeys on his neck.

“Oh. Fuck. You’re right,” he said.

He scrambled to put some sweatpants on and an old university sweatshirt that was long enough to cover up some… parts not suitable to show his boyfriend’s mother. He rushed to the door and flung it open as another more insistent knock echoed through the apartment.

Standing before him was Haru’s parents, back from some faraway country and looking mildly annoyed. He hadn’t seen them in the flesh since Haru’s university graduation before he and Haru were even dating.

“Makoto! What a nice surprise!” Mrs. Nanase said.

“Uh…hi,” he said stupidly.

“We tried to call ahead, but Haru’s phone must have been off,” Mr. Nanase said.

Makoto laughed weakly.

“Classic Haru,” he said, glancing back into the apartment for a second, promptly losing all the color in his face.

He could see Haru, naked as the day he was born, through the open bedroom door. He was frantically clearing the lube and condoms off their bedside table, but Makoto could still clearly see the leather straps of Haru’s harness slung over the headboard and the purple dildo (Haru’s early Christmas present) rolling on the floor. Their room looked like the inside of a sex dungeon if a tornado had ripped through it.

“Where is Haruka?” Mrs. Nanase asked.

Makoto blocked their view of inside the apartment with his body.

“He’s…he’s…uh…taking a bath,” he stuttered. “Sorry, I just woke up.”

“Oh, you boys…always staying up too late during your little sleepovers,” Mrs. Nanase chuckled. 

“A Christmas Eve movie night probably,” Mr. Nanase said to his wife.

“I…uh…what?” Makoto said utterly confused.

Did they not know he was living with Haru? Did they not know they were even together? He didn’t have time to unpack all that now. Haru was naked in their one bedroom with one bed on which they had raunchy gay sex all night and now he wasn’t even sure if these people knew they were gay.

“Oh yeah! We had a whole _Home Alone_ movie marathon,” he started to ramble. He had to stall somehow. “Classic Christmas movie…starting with _Home Alone_ , followed by _Home Alone 2: Lost in New York—_ also, how do you forget your child not once but twice on big family vacations? If cellphones were a thing back then, the movies would be over within the first ten minutes. You could just text your mom, ‘Hey mom! You left me behind!’ and the mom would be like, ‘Oh no! We left our son behind! We have to go back!’ _—_ then _Home Alone_ 3 and 4—not as good as the originals, I have to admit, but an interesting story—and then finally _Home Alone: The Holiday Heist_ , which I don’t think does the originals justice at all, but Haru—wrongly I might add—thinks that it’s the best movie of the entire _Home Alone_ franchise…”

As Makoto rambled, Haru’s parents smiled at him politely, but he knew they probably just thought he was crazy now. He was on this third tangent about Christmas movies when Haru snuck up behind him.

“Oh look! It’s Haru!” Makoto laughed nervously, sweating through his sweatshirt and stepping aside to let Haru through the door.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but he was probably going to develop an ulcer from that whole experience later.

“Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?” Haru asked.

Thank god he had clothes on now, a white turtleneck sweater and dark fitted jeans with socks—no fishnets. His hair was neatly combed to the side and he even smelled clean, as if he had just gotten out of the bath. He must have slapped on some aftershave in between putting on pants and making their room look somewhat heterosexual. 

“It’s good to see you, Haruka,” Mrs. Nanase said giving her son a soft and somewhat awkward hug.

“Looking good, son,” Haru’s father said patting him on the back.

Haru said nothing. Makoto could tell he was feeling uncomfortable around them, not that they had done anything to hurt him, but he just didn’t know how to act around his parents. They were practically estranged at this point.

“Your father and I had a long layover at the airport on our way to the Philippines, so we decided to stop by to wish you a Merry Christmas,” his mother said.

“Oh,” Haru uttered. “Thanks.”

There was a beat of awkward silence before Makoto’s hospitality brain blurted, “Would you like to come in?”

Haru gave him the most aggressive side-eye he had ever seen.

“Oh yes! I want to see how my son lives. Haru, you look like you aren’t eating enough. You’re so skinny,” his mother said.

“Mom,” he groaned.

Makoto led Haru’s parents to the kotatsu while Haru put on a pot of coffee. They made small talk for a bit about his job as a professional swimmer coach—neglecting to tell them he was part of Haru’s personal coaching staff. Haru came back with a tray of coffee cups and sat down silently next to him. Makoto could feel the tension rising from Haru’s body, but he dared not show it in his face.

“Looks like a young lady has lost a shoe here,” Haru’s dad said.

Makoto nearly inhaled his coffee into his lungs when he saw one of Haru’s velvet heels abandoned on the floor.

“That’s Ran’s shoe,” Haru said coolly. “She accidentally left it here when she and Ren came to visit a few weeks ago. They’re looking at colleges now if you can believe it.” 

Makoto was startled at how well Haru could lie to his parents.

“That’s too bad. I was hoping you had found yourself a girlfriend,” Haru’s father said jokingly. “I bet you do alright with the ladies, being an Olympic gold medalist and all.”

Makoto’s heart dropped into his stomach. How was Haru supposed to respond to that?

“I’m taken,” Haru clipped.

“What?! Who is she? Is she a swimmer too?” His mom asked.

“ _He_ is a coach,” Haru replied, taking a sip of his coffee—probably to keep himself from saying things he might regret.

Makoto blushed and kept his head down, willing himself not to react.

Mr. Nanase put his mug down on the table with a loud clack and crossed his arms. He sighed in annoyance.

“I thought you had grown out of that…boy crush phase,” he complained.

“It’s not a phase, Dad,” Haru shot back. 

Haru crossed his arms on his chest, mirroring father. In any other situation, Makoto would have found their similarity funny.

“What kind of life is that? You can’t possibly think that some _boy_ is worth risking your whole career, hell, your whole future over,” He shouted.

“Don’t lecture me about my future. I’ve done fine on my own,” Haru snapped.

“Boys, calm down! It’s Christmas!” Mrs. Nanase cried, reaching her arms across the table to hold both her son and husbands down.

“He started it,” Haru muttered under his breath as he sank back in his seat.

“Would anyone like some more coffee? Tea?” Makoto said, trying to quietly remove himself from the situation.

“Tea would be great. Thank you, Makoto,” Mrs. Nanase said. “I wish Haruka shared some of the same hospitality.”

Makoto didn’t really know how to respond to that. Haru joked that his mother liked him better than her own son, but now that he saw how true it was, it was kind of sad. Now he remembered why Haru tried to limit his contact with his parents to the bare minimum.

When he got to the kitchen, Makoto let out a breath. This Christmas was supposed to be between he and Haru—a special day for them to relax. Now it just felt like a nightmare.

“Excuse me for a second,” Haru said from the other room.

Haru slipped through the kitchen door and closed it behind him, slumping against the refrigerator looking completely drained.

“I know, I know, I’m in trouble,” he muttered.

“I’m not mad,” Makoto said gently. “I understand why you wouldn’t want them to know about us.”

“I do want them to know,” Haru said. “I’ve tried telling them several times. They won’t accept it.”

He hung his head with a look of hopelessness in his eyes. Makoto crossed the small room to encircle him in his arms.

“We don’t have to do this today, but just know I’m here for you,” he murmured.

Makoto kissed him on the crown of his head and then tilted Haru’s chin up so that he was looking at him.

“We can do it together,” He said with a smile. “Right, Haru-chan?”

To his relief, Haru cracked a small smile.

“You’re too good,” he breathily laughed.

“I love you,” Makoto said.

Haru leaned up and gave him a sweet peck on the lips.

“Love you too,” he said. “And I’m sorry.”

Makoto was about to tell him not to apologize, but Haru took his hand and led him back to the table where his parents sat. They looked up at their son and his best friend holding hands in confusion.

“I’m in love with Tachibana Makoto,” Haru said in full confidence.

His parents blinked once, twice, before his father spoke.

“Haruka, you’re confused,” he said shaking his head.

“No!” Haru shouted. “You’re not listening! This is my future… _he_ is my future.”

“He’s right,” Makoto said.

Normally he didn’t like to get involved in other people’s family business, but Haru was his family too. Haru was always his protector, but right now he had the fire within him to go to war for his love.

“I know this may be hard for you to understand right now, but Haru and I are really in love. We’ve been in a romantic relationship for over a year now, and we’ve liked each other for a lot longer than that. Please respect your son’s decision, because I can’t see my future without him either,” Makoto pleaded.

Mr. and Mrs. Nanase looked at each other in deliberation.

“You have to admit, it’s not much of a surprise,” Mrs. Nanase said to her husband. “They’ve known each other since they were babies.”

Mr. Nanase sighed and turned back to Haru. Haru’s hand grasped tighter onto his.

“I just want what’s best for you, son,” his father said.

“I know, but Makoto’s love is the best thing I will ever have,” Haru said tenderly.

“Haru…” Makoto murmured, blushing to the roots of his hair.

Haru never really talked about their relationship so openly before to other people, let alone his parents. Haru’s mother smiled up at her husband, linking her arm with his. She must have been remembering when they, themselves, were young and in love. Mr. Nanase took one look at her and sighed in defeat.

“Well, I guess we have no choice but to accept it. We know how stubborn you are,” he said.

Haru and Makoto exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, sir,” Makoto said with a huge smile.

Crisis averted.

Mr. Nanase took a look at his watch and said they had to go back to the airport to catch their flight. On their way out, he picked up the second high heel shoe that was lodged between the couch and a side table.

“Next time put your shoes away before your parents come over,” he said to Haru before going out the door.

“They’re not my shoes,” Haru said.

“What woman wears a size 12 in heels?” Haru’s dad asked holding up the second missing shoe.

Knowing he had been caught, Haru snatched the shoe from his hands and hugged it to his chest, blushing all the way up to his ears. Then Mr. Nanase turned to Makoto who was frozen in terror.

“I don’t want to know,” he said.

“Understood,” Makoto squeaked.

Then they were out the door and out of their lives again, back to be free spirits hopping across the world.

“What just happened?” Makoto said in shock after the door closed.

“Never answer the door ever again,” Haru mumbled as he locked it.

“Haru!” he protested. “Also, I can’t believe you left the bedroom door open. I nearly had a heart attack!”

“I mean, if they had seen it, they probably would have gotten the picture faster,” Haru said as he moved to pick up the other shoe from the floor.

Makoto couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of that scene. He was just glad he didn’t get hate-crimed. 

“Ugh…what am I going to do with you?” he groaned.

Haru chuckled and threw his arms around his neck, holding both heels in his hands.

“Merry Christmas, Makoto,” he said.

Makoto leaned down and kissed him, Haru’s soft lips smiling on his.

“Merry Christmas, Haru-chan.”


End file.
